This Supplement proposal for the SC-BRIN is designed to enhance our ability to address three major objectives of the BRIN program - development of statewide research capacity, networking of research and undergraduate institutions and development of a feeder system between these institutions, and 3) enhancement of research activity for minority students and institutions. To achieve these goals, we propose: 1) to expand the activities of the Bioinformatics Core (BC) in order to provide stronger professional support for bioinformatics activities and to increase statewide access to bioinformatics resources; 2) to increase support for our Collaborative Research Program (CRP), which develops research networks among researchers and students at Mentor, Mentored and Outreach institutions throughout the state; 3) to support the purchase of major instrumentation to enhance the infrastructure for research activities at Furman University (FU), the Medical University of South Carolina, and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine (USCSM); 4) to expand the SCBRIN network by including CU, a private Historically Black College or University (HBCU), as an additional Mentored Institutions of the SC-BRIN, and supporting the development of the genomics research capacity at CU; 5) to increase faculty research potential at South Carolina State University (SCSU), the state's only public HBCU, by supporting the hiring of a new faculty, thereby enhancing the genomics/proteomics research interaction between two neighboring Mentored HBCUs, CU and SCSU; and 6) to support the development of a new outreach program from the USC School of Public Health, addressing minority and rural health initiatives, including obesity and diabetes, and directly involving parallel programs at SCSU. These enhancements to the SC-BRIN will substantially strengthen the SC-BRIN network and increase our ability to achieve the overall goals of the BRIN program.